ICE to delay some deportations over COVID-19 as pressure mounts for Chicago’s Immigration Court to close

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services field office in Chicago, where immigration court is located. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

While officials try to contain the spread of COVID-19, the federal government has scaled back immigrant-related operations, but attorneys, judges and even prosecutors are pushing for Chicago’s Immigration Court to be shut down as community groups call for a moratorium on deportations.

The unlikely coalition of private attorneys, immigration judges and prosecutors has banded together to push for the closure of immigration courthouses across the country. As of Wednesday, the U.S. Justice Department, which oversees immigration courts, had shuttered some courthouses and postponed hearings for immigrants not in custody, through April 10.

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Still, the courtrooms handling cases of detained immigrants remain open in Chicago.

A detained person usually appears via video, and that’s the practice being used across the board under coronavirus guidelines. But families sometimes attend the court hearings, although judges could use their discretion to close the courtroom to the public, said Samuel B. Cole, an immigration judge and spokesman for the National Association of Immigration Judges, one of the groups pushing for the closure of all courthouses.

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“There is no safe way to conduct hearings involving attorneys, interpreters, judges, and court staff,” Cole said by phone Wednesday. “And documents going back and forth.”

The Justice Department has not shared its rationale for why some courthouses, like the one in Chicago, are still open while others have closed, Cole said.

“It’s an indefensible position that is keeping the courts open in this time,” he said.

Federal officials are reviewing the situation, a spokeswoman said.

“The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) has been carefully reviewing the information available from federal officials related to the coronavirus pandemic,” said Gail Montenegro, a spokeswoman for the agency. “The agency continues to evaluate the dynamic situation nationwide and will make decisions for each location as more information becomes available.”

In Chicago, even though Montenegro said the court is still open, an attorney notified the American Immigration Lawyers Association that they went Wednesday to Chicago’ Immigration Court to file paperwork and were met with a sign stating it was closed until April 10, said Kathleen Vannucci, a Chicago-based attorney and group member. The association has been pushing for the closure of immigration courtrooms.

Vannucci said she worries about immigrants with cases who don’t have an attorney and weren’t told about the postponement in hearings, meaning some people from as far away as Wisconsin or Indiana could have still showed up to Chicago Immigration Court. The Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review noted information on individual cases might not be updated because of staff changes during the coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s been extremely frustrating and I think it’s been very irresponsible of EOIR to not have made the decision sooner,” Vannucci said.

Other federal agencies that interact with immigrants have implemented changes. As of Wednesday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services suspended in-person interviews and appointments until at least April 1, according to an email from the federal agency. Among the type of applications USCIS handles includes those seeking a green card, those seeking naturalization and those seeking asylum in the U.S. Anyone who had an appointment scheduled in the next couple of weeks should receive a notice from the agency.

On Wednesday, ICE announced it was adjusting its enforcement efforts because of COVID-19, and agents would focus on “public safety risks and individuals subject to mandatory detention based on criminal grounds.” The agency plans to delay deportations for other individuals, and agents did not plan to make any arrests near health care facilities, according to a news release.

“Individuals should not avoid seeking medical care because they fear civil immigration enforcement,” ICE said in a statement.

ICE closed its Chicago office this week for most appointments, and people who had been scheduled for an upcoming check-in will receive a new date after the office fully reopens, according to an ICE official.

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However, the Chicago office is still open and accepting bond payments for someone in custody, for anyone with a GPS ankle monitor problem and to attorneys filing legal documents, according to the ICE official. ICE is not accepting bond payments in its Milwaukee or Springfield, Missouri, offices.

In early March, Chicago immigration activists first called on ICE to stop deportations when COVID-19 was starting to spread.

Emma Lozano, a longtime community activist, said the federal government is pushing “people more into the shadows,” by continuing deportations and possibly stopping people from seeking medical help.

“Right now, their health should be everyone’s problem, because if they don’t feel safe, no one will be safe and the virus will spread,” Lozano said.

Eréndira Rendón of Chicago’s Resurrection Project, an organization that advocates for immigrants, said her group has heard from families who have relatives detained and are worried about the virus spreading to jails.

“ICE should cease all operations, not only because they are terrorizing our communities during this pandemic,” Rendón said. “Worst case scenario is that a person with COVID-19 is detained and spreads like wildfire inside a facility”

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Evelyn Venegas Cuzco, of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said calls to her group’s hotline to support families facing deportation have dropped since March 12.

Still, the group remains on “high alert," about deportations, Venegas Cuzco said.

An organizer for Organized Communities Against Deportations, Miguel Lopez, said his group is drafting a letter calling on local officials to act immediately to protect the community living illegally in the Chicago area and its surroundings.

“We also want to call for the release of all people in ICE custody in Illinois,” Lopez.